The committee of the Early Dance Circle constantly looks for new ways of promoting early dance and recruiting new members. We contacted Graham and Maureen Knight (who run the Eastbourne Festival) about appearing there to spread the word about the pleasure and satisfaction to be found in doing early dance. They were so enthusiastic they booked Barbara Segal’s Contretemps (www.baroquedance.co.uk) as one of their two visiting teams in 2015.
Barbara is one of the foremost baroque dancers, choreographers and teachers in the UK and Membership Secretary of the EDC. In period costume, her group presents the dances of earlier centuries in a way that is full of fun, while remaining true to the original sources.
At Eastbourne 2015, Contretemps attended the Playford Ball in costume and then performed and taught dances by Thomas Bray and by later dancing masters from the Regency period, They also ran an information session, “Meet the Team,” to talk about the EDC and the many and various activities of its members.